Macro Monday - There’s a Fungus Among Us

It took me forever to figure out that I developed an allergy to mushrooms. I was eager to learn why I was struck down with debilitating migraine headaches that came out of nowhere. I discovered early on that crab cakes were often the culprit -- but not always. The ones made with a mélange of many ingredients were more likely to cause a problem than the flaky ones that consisted only of flaked crab, some herbs, and a few simple binding ingredients. Finally one time, after a fabulous plate of wild mushroom fettuccini, a migraine felled me for a day and a half. Even though I used to eat mushrooms with no ill effects for years and years, I had to face the fact that I could no longer indulge in one of my favorite foods. The saddest realization is that I could no longer eat truffles like these glorious specimen I saw at the Fancy Food Show…

… in the Sabatino Tartufi booth:

There was a time not all that long ago when I would have salivated in wonder seeing a store like this one located in the San Francisco Ferry Building:

I can still take pleasure in these magnificent rarities as eye candy:

I might have even gone for one of these mushroom mini-farms…

… but now I’m afraid I only see a year’s worth of migraine headaches.

For other Macro Monday close-ups, pop over to Lisa at Lisa's Chaos.